Playing Pretend
by MissNessarose
Summary: From play-acting as kids to reality, Seifer knows that either way, he's loved her all along. SeiferxQuistis, VERY late for Valentine's Day, I know! Kinda fluffy.


Just thought I'd write a little fluffy romance piece, although this is _very _late for Valentine's Day! XD Oh, well. Anyways, I don't own these characters, but I sure as heck do own Accunis! Enjoy! *And yes, the Poshul I'm referring to IS the one off of Chrono Cross...I just thought that the dog was cute and deserved to be in here.*  
>-Nessie<p>

* * *

><p>"Save me!" Quistis cried dramatically, with a laugh as she held up her hand against Squall, who held a wooden sword over her head. At age four, he was a pretty nasty-looking dragon...at least, in his mind, he was. Squall growled at her, making her giggle. She had to admit, she wasn't a very convincing damsel in distress. Then again, her rescue party didn't look quite traditional, either. Irvine laughed, on all fours, while Selphie rode on his back, her own fake sword brandished outward. Gently, giggling herself, she tapped him on the head.<p>

"Horses can't laugh, silly!"

"This one does," he protested, looking up at her.

Zell stood near Quistis, serving as the 'tower' in their game of make-believe. He didn't really _want_ to be a large stone object, but was forced into it after Seifer took the role of hero, thus taking all available positions. He wasn't very happy about it, and stood with a pout and his arms crossed while the "war" over their "princess" raged on. Quistis simply laughed and watched Seifer try and get their "battle strategy" through Selphie's head, who had other ideas. Irvine stood, leaving the two to argue, and simply walked behind Zell and Squall, kneeling on the ground beside Quistis.

"Get on," he sighed, completing his function of being a dutiful steed. Gracefully, she sat on his back, nearly making him buckle down onto the ground. Seifer and Squall quickly engaged into a mock sword fight, wooden weapons clashing and clacking with every swing of their wrist.

However, the next thing that Quistis remembered was wood colliding with the bridge of her nose, her head hitting the ground very hard after she fell back off of Irvine. Being caught unaware, she couldn't help but let a scream issue from her lips.

Seifer—on instinct—dropped the wooden sword and instantly ran over, just to make sure that she was alright. Tears streamed down her face as she held the back of her head, just the tiniest bit of blood falling from her nose. The others fell silent. Seifer stooped and picked her up in his arms before turning to carry her back inside.

Gently, she curled into his form.

"My hero," she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder. He smiled to himself.

"Sure thing, princess."

* * *

><p>"SWORD," Fujin pointed to the Seifer's gunblade, which she took out of his hand. She took a step towards Raijin, who was shaking.<p>

"FACE," she held it up and pressed the blade closer so that it was barely touching his nose. Feeling his legs about to give way, he turned and ran for it, footsteps echoing down the hall. Handing him the gunblade back and drawing her metal stars, Fujin hurried after the blundering idiot that she could call her own, leaving Seifer alone. They had been making their way into the Training Center when Raijin—following his own nature—had made a stupid comment towards Fujin, thus getting her ticked...and the rest followed suit.

Swinging the weapon back up over his shoulder, Seifer smirked to himself, shaking his head when a scream issued from the vast fiend-filled room down the hall. He could hear the roar of what seemed to be a VERY irritated T-Rexaur, and several slashes of a blade being driven through flesh.

Entering the main area, the sight was anything but pleasant: while Squall tried to fend off the extremely large monster, Quistis was sprawled on the ground, ankle bent at a most unpleasant ankle.

He had to admit it: Seifer hadn't really seen that much blood in his life. He was about ready to throttle Squall, and most likely rip his neck out.

"Move, Leonheart," he barked roughly, pushing the male out of the way as he stepped in to take this thing down. It was quickly defeated, and he turned to where the Instructor lay sprawled across the floor, much like the tiny dolls she had used to play with when she was younger. Seifer knelt down and first started to coil the whip back up. It shifted her badly damaged ankle, making a quiet whimper escape her lips. Roughly, Seifer forked the whip back into Squall's hands.

"Hold this," he ordered. Squall solemnly did so as his rival stood and turned to him, one hand gesturing to the large fiend that lay on the ground. "Look," he started, rudely, "have you ever heard of a pleasant thing called a potion? A cure spell?"

Squall was only silent, his face emotionless. Seifer gave him a sarcastic smile. "Maybe you should invest in some."

He stooped to scoop Quistis up tenderly in his arms, planning to head back to the Infirmary to see what could be done. Her limbs hung limply down over his arms, her head gently rolled towards his chest. Standing, he started back for the door before Squall finally spoke up.

"If I hadn't kept going, she would've died."

Seifer stopped in his tracks, and slowly turned back. Two words escaped his mouth, directed at the boy who he thought he'd never tell them to.

"Thank you."

Leaving Squall partially dumbfounded, he carried her through the hall. Underneath the bright artificial lights, she stirred slightly in his arms, moaning quietly.

"You're alright," he assured her, just now noticing the blood that had stained his coat from kneeling where she'd initially fallen.

Her eyes flickered open slightly, icy blue crystals that—at times—could stare straight into his soul. Gently she smiled before closing her eyes and curling into his chest.

"My hero."

* * *

><p>"There you go!" Selphie smiled proudly, affixing the plastic comb to the glamorous white veil atop Quistis's head. Their little 'play' wedding had been arranged earlier that morning, as Selphie wanted to try something new, and the boys had never really seen what a real wedding would look like. Thus, this was planned.<p>

The little white dress fell to her knees and rustled quietly when she walked. Of course, since Quistis had never quite been the one to wear dresses, even at a young age, this was just a bit awkward. Selphie handed her the paper flower bouquet that had been sprayed with some perfume so that it at least smelled right, if anything, and stepped behind to pick up the edge of the veil.

"You ready?" Zell held out his arm to her, being the one who had volunteered to walk her down their 'aisle': the rocky stone pathway that led through Matron's large flower garden out back and under a nice white archway that also served as a trellis for some roses.

With a firm nod, she allowed him to link her arm with hers, and held her breath, nearly shaking. Sure, this was only pretend...but still.

Selphie followed along behind, holding the veil as directed, skipping most of the time down the thick cobblestones of the weather-worn pathway. Ellone knelt right underneath the trellis, the others eagerly sitting on the grass as it waved back and forth in the cool breeze. Instead of using the actual ceremony, she basically dumbed it down a bit so that the kids at least got the idea of what was going on.

Seifer—who had refused to get dressed up at all—simply leaned back against one side of the archway, legs crossed casually. Zell took Quistis's hand and quickly put it into Seifer's before turning to sit down with the others. Selphie did the same, skipping over before plopping down next to Irvine.

The whole event only lasted a few minutes, and Ellone stood, kneeling down. Seifer blinked—as did Quistis—after her last direction, and she laughed.

"You two don't really have to kiss," she smiled. "That's just part of the ceremony."

However, quickly, Seifer leaned in and planted a quick kiss on Quistis's lips before he turned and ran off through the garden. She blinked and stood in complete shock before the small smile spread across her face.

* * *

><p>Seifer still remembered their little play-acting situation, and kept it at the back of his mind as he stood at the altar, trying not to collapse or become any more jittery than he already was. Raijin gently nudged him from behind, giving him a supportive smile. Letting out an extremely shaky breath, Seifer simply blocked out everything and focused on the smiling blonde that made her way up the aisle, on Cid Kramer's arm.<p>

Quistis nearly broke down in tears several times during the whole thing—once when he glanced out into the audience, Seifer realized that this was also the only one time that he'd ever seen Matron cry as well.

The only difference now was that instead of simply pecking her lips and running off, she leaned in as well. Slipping his tongue into her mouth, Seifer tried going farther until Raijin reached out and smacked him hard over the head. Laughing and flipping him off, he held his new wife close to him.

She still had that same smile spread across her face.

* * *

><p>She had been crouching in the backyard, behind the stone house, with a small wiggly pink puppy—it was most likely a stray—fidgeting in her lap. Selphie sat close by, playing with the little things overly large ears, which made her laugh.<p>

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the dog. Quistis stood, handing the dog to Selphie before brushing herself off.

"We found him," she shrugged. "He looked kind of lonely, so we decided to play with him for a little bit."

"He's so cute!" Selphie squealed, cradling the thing her lap.

"I don't think that we can keep it, though," Seifer eyed the thing oddly...it was much too cute for his taste. Suddenly, looking up, Selphie let out a high-pitched squeal and a gasp before getting up and handing the puppy off to Seifer.

"So you guys are kinda married, right?" she nodded. He rolled his eyes, concealing his smile. That set up had all been Ellone's idea, he claimed, and Selphie was the only one who had continuously pestered the pair about that.

"Not really—"

"Then Poshul could be your baby!" she smiled, holding her hands behind her back before waving and skipping away, like she always did. He rolled his eyes.

"That's ridiculous. This...puppy...is not a baby."

"Well, I don't know," Quistis took it in her arms, and it batted with a stray piece of her hair. "It IS kinda cute."

He sighed. "You know this all isn't real, right?"

She gazed straight into his eyes—and most likely soul as well, he now realized—before glancing back down at the puppy.

"Well, what if it all was?"

Those six words had scared him to no end that day. He hadn't quite thought of it until now. At that age, nothing had scared him more than that. Just the thought of being with her...alright, maybe it hadn't completely startled him, but still...

However, that phrase was completely pushed aside, and those six little words no longer terrified him. That night that he mused over all this, though, he could easily say that a different series of words had triggered terror once again.

"Seifer, I think my water broke."

* * *

><p>He watched her sleep soundlessly against the pillows on the stiff hospital bed, the blinding artificial lights above being dimmed down. He fought back a yawn as he leaned back in the chair, holding his brand new little girl in his arms.<p>

Accunis...he'd never let her go. She had one tiny little hand clamped tightly around his finger, and slept while still holding on to it.

He didn't really plan on getting that finger back into his own will anytime soon.

Quistis stirred slightly, and he interlaced his free hand with hers, making her eyes flutter open at the contact.

"Hey," he smiled, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. "Still sore?"

She nodded, yawning.

"That's what I figured," he mused, making her smile. "Sleep, then. I've got her for now," he gestured to the little girl that slept in one of his arms.

"Alright," she shifted again, wincing slightly before settling back down.

He planted a kiss on her lips and sat still until he was sure that both of his favorite girls in this world were asleep.

Leaning back, he gazed over at Quistis, and realized that he knew from the start that he loved her. Sure, things were messed up at times, but he still loved her.

And he wouldn't have it any other way.

~End~


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